Looking for Lab Rats.

[ripper7777777]

Okay at the other place we have been discussing the steering problems, Outcast came up with an experimental mod for fixing the steering, both stuttering and the lack of steps in the propo, but I need more help perfecting it, and I know this board has alot of electronic people on it. I don't know much about electronics, so I don't know why it works but it seems to.

Okay first off there are two differnet cars, a two wire pot and a three wire pot, the two wire pot seems to be limited to the white bricks only, but the three wire pots seem to be in either. On the three wire pots there is a wire bridging the middle wire and the right wire, what we did was remove the bridge and then remove the flat gear, then center the pot and adjust the trim till we have 7 steps in either direction, then put the flat gear back in the center.

Now the questions are why is the bridge there, why does this work, why does the steering become extremely sensitive, and why does it throw off the steering re-centering in some cars.

So lab rats are needed I have a car that I have done this to with good results also I notched the flat gear o get full steering, only problem is a slight bit of wandering, but I'm not sure if it's the car or the overly sensitive controller. So if you have a car about to go back, give it a try and post your results.

[Nathan]

Did it. Works quite well, almost feels like my nitro now There is NO stuttering, and mine almost feels less sensitive, in a good way.

[Modjo]

i notice the third wire is attached to the second leg of a cap. is it possible to just solder one from the pot to that cap?

[jamgunner]

any pics of this and is it reversable in the event something goes wrong?

[ripper7777777]

pics and a complete tutorial are on the other un-mentionable site, and yes it's reversible as long as you leave enough to solder back together

ripper could you hit me up on yahoo messenger (ax0n), AIM (BitBurglar) or email (trc@focushacks.com)? I have a question for you and I think you might know what the question is. if you don't know the question, I'll reply and ask. I know you know the answer. Thanx

[wild03]

Originally posted by ripper7777777
pics and a complete tutorial are on the other un-mentionable site, and yes it's reversible as long as you leave enough to solder back together

Just got me SE and the steering is crappy, Can you tell me more about this site?

Thanks!

[jbach39]

yes, what site is this??

[rfnagel]

Originally posted by ripper7777777
Okay first off there are two differnet cars, a two wire pot and a three wire pot, the two wire pot seems to be limited to the white bricks only, but the three wire pots seem to be in either. On the three wire pots there is a wire bridging the middle wire and the right wire, what we did was remove the bridge and then remove the flat gear, then center the pot and adjust the trim till we have 7 steps in either direction, then put the flat gear back in the center.

Are you refering to the steering pot (as in potentiometer) in the controller, or the steering servo (steering motor) that's in the chassis? As far as pots (such as the steering in the controller), the reason for shunting one side of the pot with the middle leg is to prevent problems due to electrical and RF noise.

As far as the steering servo, I'm not sure. AFAIK, most RC servos require three wires in order for their associated circuitry to funtion properly. The middle wire is generally used for the controlling circuitry, so that the controlling portion of the receiver "knows" where the position of the servo is at any given moment, and where relative center is for the servo.

Note that the last paragraph is going from memory, back from my 1/10 scale RC car and aircraft days, so I might be way off.

[rfnagel]

An example of shunting two legs of a pot can be seen in the attached pic (pic is from the steering section of the SE transmitter, from the transmiter schematics).

[wild03]

Originally posted by jbach39
yes, what site is this??

I did a quick search on google on "Zipzap SE steering" and the site came right up! I read there that riper returned all his SEs, don't blame him!

Are you referring to the steering pot (as in potentiometer) in the controller, or the steering servo (steering motor) that's in the chassis?

The pot is on the car, and It seems you are right about it being a positional sensor for the servo. I just got my car two days ago and wanted to try this mod ASAP as a last option before return it it for a REFUND!

I have to say that the mod did it for me, the car now works like you would expect it to work, no more shaking while centering, just 5 or 6 solid steps on both directions, I also used a needle file to shave the steering bar on both sides to give it a little more turning radius, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

I'm keeping my SE in part because I own a second generation RX-7 and RS finally got the body to look like one, Unlike the 3rd Gen. from the F&F kit, Who designed that thing? and because with the mod it seems to be working like it should! sensitive but still good!

I won't recommend the SE to any of my friends because there's just no excuse for this thing not to work right out of the box. Yes its a toy and it only costs $25 but then they should only advertise "proportional steering to one side" and "realistic idle engine noise and vibration" as an excuse for the shaking!
LOOks like they went for cheap components and at the end they were forced to do the quick fix to keep the cars going straight...

Overall I think RS tried to raise the bar offering all these features while still keeping the price cheaper than microsizers etc., amazing, proportional steering (sort of) and speed, lights! 6 channels! wow too good to be true! maybe they'll get it right next time, and maybe this sends a clear message to the competition that they better get working on their own versions!

GO RS!


my two cents!

[ripper7777777]

Sorry, been busy for awhile working on my Overland Track, if you need a link to the tutorial email me and I'll send you one. I'm not going to post it and make Tiny mad. Yes the steering fix worked for me but the steering motor froze up and that was the last straw. Also after a few runs the cars seem to start to wander and not recenter as well so use the fix at your own risk.

Oh yea the pot I'm refering to is in the car. The one you adjust when you turn the screw.

Hope this Helps, I'm sticking with my original zz's at least they work as advertised.

[Azimov]

Ripper, where are you with this wire snip mod now? I noticed that you had recentering issues after you did this mod. Do you still have them? I can live with the stuttering, but I gotta get even steps on each side. Half propo steering ain't gettin it over here.